Authors: Lisanne Norman
* * *
Even after her call to Jack was over and she'd received the data he'd downloaded from the
Eureka's
computer, Vanna was still shaking from her experience in the mess. Taking repeated deep breaths and trying to convince herself it was only the adrenaline wasn't helping a lot, but at least the buzzing in her ears had stopped.
Contacting the front desk, she told them she was in to no one but the Liegen Aldatan and his Leska or Jack Reynolds, the Terran physician. She then requested a lab technician be assigned to help her.
Soon she was completely immersed in her work, comparing the Sholan and human data on gestation as she tried to find enough parallels on which to base what at best could only be an educated guess.
Her technician was run ragged because Vanna had no intention of leaving her office for anything. Finally, as Vanna had just about worked herself to a standstill, the younger female broached the subject of time.
"Physician Kyjishi, I should have gone off duty an hour ago," she said quietly. "You should rest, too. You've been working without a break for the last five hours."
"I hadn't realized it had been that long," said Vanna, checking her wrist unit. "You're right. Off you go, I'll finish up here. I'll see you again in the morning."
"The front office sent the list of the calls that came in for you," she said, handing Vanna the comp pad she'd been using. "Good night, Physician."
"Good night," said Vanna, putting the comp down on her desk and running her hands across her ears and head. She began to massage her temples, hoping to alleviate the headache that had been threatening all afternoon. At least now she was on her own it was so much quieter.
She looked across at the couch on the other side of her room. She didn't need to go back to the guest house to sleep, she could stay here in her office. The couches were intended to double as beds and in the drawer underneath it were several blankets and a pillow.
Sighing, she took another couple of analgesics from the bottle on her desk, pulling a face as she washed them down with some disgustingly tepid water from the jug.
There was a light tap on the door before Khafsa came into the room. "I thought you'd still be here," he said. "I called you a couple of times, but the office refused to put me through so I thought I'd come in person."
Vanna smiled tiredly up at him. "Sorry, Khafsa. I've been busy and I didn't want to be disturbed."
"Well, since you're obviously finished for the night, I won't feel so guilty about taking you to see a patient of mine."
"Khafsa, I've got a splitting headache. I don't feel like looking at patients at this time of night."
"I really think you should come," he said, walking into the room and leaning past her to switch off her desk light. "Besides, it's on your way back to the guest house."
"I was going to sleep here tonight," she objected.
"You need to get away from your work, Vanna," he said, helping her to her feet. "A change of scenery will do you good. You'll be able to come back to it tomorrow with a fresh mind."
Despite her protests, Khafsa gently but firmly led her out of her office and down the corridor toward the wards and single rooms.
"Who is it you want me to see?" she asked, too tired to feel anything but relief that the buzzing in her ears that she'd experienced earlier in the day hadn't returned. "Why is it so important that I see them?"
"You know quite a lot about these sorts of cases," he said, stopping outside one of the rooms adjacent to his department. "I'd value your opinion." He opened the door and ushered her inside.
As the door closed behind them, she realized she'd been tricked and that Khafsa had been shielding her mind until now. The full pain of her headache exploded behind her eyes, making her feel sick and giddy.
"Damn you, Khafsa!" she said, trying to push past him to get out. "This has nothing to do with me!"
"But it has, Vanna," said Khafsa quietly, taking hold of her and turning her back toward the room's interior. "You know you're the other half of the problem. It took us quite a long time to work out it was you. Full marks for hiding yourself so well."
Weakly, Vanna tried to pull herself free. "I don't need this, Khafsa! I don't want it!"
"I'm afraid you have no choice," he said.
The strength of Vanna's mental call for help shocked him but it took the last of her strength. Moments later, she collapsed against him.
* * *
Konis led the way through the corridor to his study. "Did you know that the Sholan translator on Earth has also found a Leska?" he said, sitting down at his desk and keying up his comm screen. "I received the news yesterday morning. He and his partner are being shipped out here immediately. I'm issuing instructions to make sure they are kept as free of stress as possible so their relationship can develop at a more normal rate. At least they didn't have any psychological or physical problems in consummating their Link."
"I'm glad," said Kusac. "Maybe it'll get easier the more mixed Leska pairs there are like us."
"Perhaps," said Konis, turning round to look at him. "You probably haven't heard yet, but there's been a third anomalous Link on Shola. This last Link was two younglings barely old enough to pair. That wasn't the worst of it, though. All three pairs come from tribes within the Ghuulgul Desert region. Khalmi and Nikuu— have you met them yet? No? You will. They were sent out from Laasoi Guild to fetch them in. We have to keep a mental watch on the villages in that region because they don't report anyone developing telepathic talents to us. Khalmi picked them up as soon as their Link started, so they took two Warriors with them and went out to collect them. It's a couple of years since we were last out there and they found that a new priest had installed himself in the village. He's yet another of this new religious movement that's suddenly started to gain ground out there. They call themselves the Modernists."
"Modernist? What's that?"
"Aspects of their beliefs are fairly predictable for people living out in the desert. They believe in only one God, Kezule, the God of the sun. The rest of us are idolaters who worship false Gods, of course. They believe that females should be subservient to their male relatives, and should only have the one mate for life. They're completely against females in any occupation outside the home, more so since the destruction of Khyaal and Szurtha and, I'm sorry to say, your Link to Carrie."
"What do the females say to that? I can't see them being any too happy to accept such a restrictive religion."
"That's one of the worrying aspects of this movement. The females are agreeing to it. It's based on the premise that the days of the Catacylsm are returning and all nonbelievers will perish at the hands of their sun God. The other worrying aspect is that when our team arrived there, they found that because the new Leska pair were so young, barely old enough to pair as I said, the priest had ordered them to be beaten until the evil left them."
"You can't be serious," said Kusac, a stunned look on his face.
"I am. I was called in to witness their arrival. They were brought in just after dawn and quite honestly, we thought we were going to lose them. However, they're bedded down in a Leska unit, on drips with constant I.C. nursing and so far, they're holding their own."
"I take it that they were found trying to pair."
Konis nodded. "They're still virgins, but thank the Gods their Link compulsion is minimal and we're managing to keep them stable with psychic suppressants. The male, Rrai, his mother refuses to leave their sides. She said she and her son had been here some three months ago and they'd gone down with that ni'uzu virus you had a few weeks later. Now this. I wonder if there's a connection. It was a mutated virus after all, and we don't normally have as many Leska pairings in a year on the whole of Shola, let alone in that desert region."
"There could be. You'd have to ask Vanna about that. What happened with the priest?"
"The Protectors went out to pick up this self-appointed priest, but he'd disappeared and the villagers won't say where he is. I'm concerned that they're going to see him as some kind of martyr figure and the whole thing's going to blow up out of proportion. That area's ripe for it. We've had several seasons that have brought droughts there and despite the aid they've been sent, the people are dissatisfied. I don't want to see a Modernist anti-telepath movement starting to build."
"We'll be having a plague of snakes followed by locusts," said Kusac darkly.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, something from Carrie's Terran culture," Kusac said. "Their God called these plagues down on unbelievers. I think it's worthwhile getting Vanna to follow up the virus idea, Father. I suppose if they were carrying the virus, Rrail and his mother could have spread it through the desert community. That doesn't explain the translator on the
Rhyaki,
though."
His father turned back to the comm. "It could, if I had become a carrier through picking it up from one of my guild contacts before I went out to the
Rhyaki."
Once he'd reached the
Khalossa's
comm office, he asked to be put through to the Terran Ambassador on Keiss, Mr Hamilton.
"He's no longer the Ambassador, Liege, he's their Prime Councillor now," replied the adjutant.
"Put me through to him anyway," said Clan Lord Aldatan.
"It's the twenty-first hour, three a.m. local time on Keiss, Leige," said the adjutant carefully.
"I said put me through." Konis' voice brooked no argument.
"Yes, Liege."
It took some five minutes until Carrie's father appeared on the screen. He frowned, obviously trying to place the Sholan.
"Clan Lord Aldatan? Aren't you Kusac's father? What can I do for you at this late hour?"
"Yes, I'm Konis Aldatan. I'm sorry to disturb your sleep, Mr Hamilton," he purred, "but the matter is somewhat urgent. I'm sure that as Carrie's father, you will share my pleasure in hearing that my son and your daughter have become life-bonded."
Peter Hamilton frowned in puzzlement. "Do you mean married?"
"That's right. Frankly it's the best thing that could have happened to Kusac," he continued, glancing at his son over the top of the unit. "It's brought out qualities in him he didn't know he possessed. Your daughter, too; she's become a brighter and livelier person since she's been with us."
Peter Hamilton ran his hand through his hair, obviously unsure as to what to say. "I hope they'll be very happy," he said at length.
"I'll pass your wishes on to them. However, I didn't disturb you at this time of night just to tell you that. It's the news that we are to become grandparents that has me more worried."
"Grandparents? You aren't saying she's pregnant, surely," said Mr Hamilton, disbelief on his face.
"I'm afraid I am. You are, I know, aware of some of the changes that their Link has caused, but apparently there have been some far more far-reaching than any of us thought possible— with the result that Carrie is expecting my son's child. My concern," he continued, drowning out the other's exclamations of shock, "is for the child. I think it wrong and unfair to bring into the world a new life that will be neither Sholan nor Terran. What will this strange offspring of theirs look like? Should they have the child?"
"What does my daughter want?" Mr Hamilton asked in a strangled voice.
"She and her mate want the child, of course," he said. "But what, as loving parents, should we do? Should we advise them of the problems, or leave them to decide on their own?"
"Let them decide," her father said firmly. "If they can't live on Shola with their child, there's always a home for them here on Keiss."
Kusac's father sighed. "You're right, of course. Their decision is the one that matters, but we have an even more pressing problem than that to deal with."
Peter Hamilton winced visibly. "What else has happened?"
"Your daughter has foolishly issued a Challenge— a duel by combat— to one of our females. Despite our efforts we have been unable to get the Challenge dropped, even taking Carrie's condition into account. If she fights, at the least she could lose the child. At the worst, we could lose all three of them."
The Clan Lord leaned forward. "We must stop that combat, Mr Hamilton. I intend to try to claim diplomatic immunity for your daughter, but I'm concerned that our Governor and the council of guilds won't allow it because of her bond to my son."
"What do you want me to do?" Mr Hamilton asked, concern written on his face.
"I want you to contact the Terran/Sholan Council on Keiss and demand that the Challenge be canceled. Say you refuse to let your daughter's life, and that of her unborn child, be put at risk. Tell them this new species is too precious to risk over a squabble between women— anything— so long as they cancel it."
"How long until the Challenge?" Mr Hamilton demanded.
"Two weeks. It's on the morning of the third day of that week."
"I'll get onto it now." The screen went blank.
Kusac just looked at his father in awe as the comm unit slid back into the desk.
"I'm not the head of Alien Relations for nothing," murmured Konis, sitting back in his seat and folding his hands in his lap. "I think that with her father petitioning the council on Keiss as well as us petitioning the Governor, we might get some action."
Kusac shook his head. "I don't believe how easily you manipulated him," he said. "Now all he cares about is saving Carrie and the child. He hasn't stopped to think about me being the father."
"Nor will he, until he has accepted his own desire for his granddaughter to survive. Carrie should have fewer problems from him." He glanced at his wrist unit.
"I think we'd better go and see your mother now. She's likely to have our hides for delaying third meal for so long, especially now she's looking out for Carrie's health. I remember what I was like when your mother was carrying you. I got it all wrong and would let her do hardly anything. She got so exasperated she finally resorted to cuffing my ears soundly when I began to fuss over her too much." He chuckled at the memory before looking up at his son.
"I know I don't need to tell you that Carrie will need a lot of support from you." It was his turn to shake his head. "I don't know how you both cope with a Link like that. For me it would be like living without my hide. Its intensity is frightening, almost as frightening as how easily our males are being attracted to the females of Carrie's species."
"I wouldn't know about normal Leska Links," Kusac said. "I only know I couldn't be without her. Given any choice, I would still have chosen Carrie as my Leska."
"You have changed. I told her father the truth. You were too insular, too academic. Your mother and I despaired of you getting emotionally involved with anyone, let alone Rala."
"Rala was a mistake."
"I admit that, but when the betrothal was arranged, you were only children. I had no idea she would turn out to be the vacuous and spiteful young female that she is now."
Kusac gave a little sigh. "I'm well rid of her, but at what cost?"
"Don't talk up trouble," warned his father as he got up from his desk. "Let's assume that either the Challenge will be canceled or all will proceed well and Carrie will win easily. Now, in the name of the Gods, let's go and eat!"